Sorry, folks, but I really need to get a bit “meta” for a moment. If any other bloggers are reading this article, please hang around a moment. For the rest of you, here’s content that will tide you over until tomorrow.
found this on Flickr
Anyone remember this comic? I wish I had kept my copies. (Actually had this one.) Superkernel was a fun comic for kids. REMEMBER THEM, COMIC COMPANIES?
And for the bloggers, read on.
I’m coming upon the first year anniversary of the BW Media Spotlight. I enjoy getting a few things off my chest when it comes to the “entertainment” industries. I like directing people to awesome stuff I find on the internet. The fact that some of the creators of said stuff have sometimes found their way here is a mere bonus!
On the other hand, I have other projects I want to do as well. For example, getting my art style up to snuff (another progress report Thursday), eventually starting a webcomic, and further goals beyond that. To do so, I need time for art practice, organizing my work areas for maximum efficiency, and then creating content. In addition, there are number of long articles I’ve been wanting to put together, including a few series. Some of those are…
- The Furman Files: There are reasons why Simon Furman’s take on Transformers bugs me, and I feel the need to explore those.
- Superman 2000: If you haven’t heard of this, a bunch of DC writers had an idea of what they thought would be good for the Superman title. The project was called “Superman 2000”. I’ve read the proposal at Superman Through the Ages, and most of it I reaaaaaly disagree with. It was never implemented, but I want to go into why I’m glad. In that vein…
- How I’d Run DC: Note that’s “run” and not “save”. I’d probably run it into the ground (tax write-off for Warner Brothers), but it would give you an idea about my writing style, and I’d like to hear other’s thoughts. This one would be a continuing series.
- Media Translation (working title): Hollywood gets inspired by books, comics, cartoons, and now video games. The reverse is also true, as well as each other. So how well does one property translate into another? What changes are necessary for the audience and format involved? I want to explore that.
The problem is I can’t find the time to work on these or any of the other long-form articles I have in mind. This bugs me. I’m either really tired some days (especially Thursdays, when I have to get my comics after work, since I’d rather not wait) or busy others. My Thursday posts have been mostly filler stuff: do something to have something. And you’ve seen how my past couple Sunday reviews have been rather weak. At least next week I only have four comics to go through, according to the latest schedule.
I’m asking you all what I should do? Obviously, I could just skip a day and do a lot of filler videos. Maybe I could just post an article link instead of saving them up for the last day of the month (like tomorrow). Throughout the year I’ve dropped ideas like the weekly/monthly pull list because I thought they were taking up space I could be using on other things. My position is not changed on this. So I could just not post every day, which I’m sure would be fine.
No, my question for other bloggers is…how do you do it? Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery has two posts up every day: a normal article and a Star Trek review. (It used to be TV Episodes, but once he got through that, he moved on to the comics, with novels on the weekend.) The Invincible Super Blog is never short on long articles, unless Chris Sims is posting to Comic Alliance or some other blog. Additionally, he finds time to work on comics for the Action Age and co-hosts a weekly podcast, War Rocket Ajax. I could sit here and list all the blogs I read with daily content, but the point is these people still have lives. They watch TV shows, they go out with their friends (or even alone), they have family get-togethers, and still pump out excellent content. They research their stuff. And supposedly they still have jobs to go to. Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd of the Art and Story podcast do two long podcasts a week, a shorter one maybe four days a week, and still do their freelance artist gig, and their own personal comics. A guy (screen) named Zobovor, who I know through the Transformers newsgroup works, raises a family, and still puts out excellent work in kitbashing areas (if I could find the fragging website, I’d link you there!), reviews toys, and still posts to alt.toys.transformers, something I really haven’t had a chance to do lately.
Now I could–and have–practice my art while listening to a podcast, news report, or some “talking heads” program, but you can’t really do that while watching a TV show or movie, and my DVR box is filling up like crazy. You can’t read an article, and I can’t write one, while reading or listening to any of those shows or a blog post. (I usually have either music or silence when I write an article.) And yet those mentioned above find time to do those things and still create excellent content five to seven days a week.
So what I’m looking for here from bloggers are some time management tips. Just how do you guys come up with decent content for your websites, and still have time for all your other projects and social activities?
BW Media Spotlight 